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10 Million Yemenis Face Extreme Food Crisis

A boy and his sisters watch graffiti artists spray on a wall, commemorating the victims who were killed in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, May 18, 2015. CREDIT: AP
A boy and his sisters watch graffiti artists spray on a wall, commemorating the victims who were killed in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, May 18, 2015. CREDIT: AP

Up to 10 million Yemenis could face extreme food insecurity this year due to the ongoing conflict between Houthi rebels and the government backed by a Saudi-led (and American backed) coalition.

“At least 1 in 5 households face extreme food consumption gaps resulting in very high acute malnutrition or excess mortality, or faces extreme loss of livelihood assets that will likely lead to food consumption gaps,” according to a report released by FEWS Net (Famine Early Warning Systems Network) that labels the situation in Yemen as a Phase 4 Emergency.

Yemen is a country of 26 million people located between the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. The current conflict is primarily between the Houthi rebels and the government of Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Additionally, the Islamic State is entering the fray and claiming attacks while al-Qaeda is using the crisis to expand its influence.

Earlier this year, the Houthis — a group of Shia-offshoot Muslims called Zaidis — dissolved the Parliament and overran Yemen’s capital Sana’a. Security agencies in the country are split between Hadi and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who despite fighting the Houthis many times while in office, has thrown his support behind their campaign against the current government.

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A group of coalition countries, led by Saudi Arabia and provided with intelligence and logistical support by the U.S., has backed the Hadi-led government and began a devastating bombing campaign two months ago that has been criticized by international agencies for taking high civilian casualties and contributing to the humanitarian crisis there.

“The ongoing conflict is driving several factors leading to deteriorating food security outcomes, including increased food and fuel prices, disruptions to normal income sources including public sector salaries, remittances, social payments, and agricultural labor, and disruptions to normal imports of staple foods,” FEWS Net’s report reads.

Certain regions of the bomb-ravaged country are now in such dire need of food and other basic staples that people are dying of starvation. Hospitals are also struggling without proper medical supplies, according to Amnesty International’s Lama Fakih, who visited nine hospitals during a brief ceasefire earlier this month. Among the issues at hospitals were “no electricity for weeks, limited diesel to operate generators, a lack of hospital staff, and, critically, few medical supplies to treat the ill and wounded,” she wrote in Foreign Policy.

Imports and exports have been disrupted by the bombing campaign, causing a huge spike in the fuel prices. According to the FEWS Net report, the high cost and low availability of fuel has caused a surge in food prices, reduced water availability (for consumption and agricultural use) and disrupted electricity.

Experts on Yemen believe the current crisis cannot be solved with military confrontation and that rapid political actions are needed.

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“The only way to save Yemen is to come to an immediate ceasefire, followed with negotiations,” Sama’a Al-Hamdani, an independent Yemeni analyst and writer said Tuesday on a panel held at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.